Coun. Denzil Minnan-Wong has an alternative idea to Rob Ford's proposed land transfer tax cut. The executive committee member is suggesting council cap the tax and reduce or increase it each year to ensure it always generates the same amount. Would you prefer that to a straight cut? Should council leave the land trasnfer tax alone?

Coun. Mike Del Grande has been hospitalized with an unknown illness. The former budget chief, who resigned his post in Jan., was active over the weekend helping constituents clear snow-blocked driveways. He was treated for a benign brain tumor in the 1990s but there's no evidence his current illness is connected to any previous health concerns.

Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak says merging Toronto's subways and LRTs with GO Transit is one of the ways the GTHA can improve the quality of its transit. TTC chair Karen Stintz re-iterated her stance that GO would need to absorb all, not just parts, of the Commission. Would you like to see the subways and LRTs run by Metrolinx and the rest left to the city?

If it were any other city in the NHL, I would just assume that the Senators' management team were engaging in a clever bit of marketing, while having a bit of fun at the expense of a regional rival. But since it's coming from the most insecure city in the country (and very possibly the entire world) I don't doubt for a second that this silly, and rather pathetic idea, is 100% sincere.

It's a well-known fact that hating Toronto is Canada's third official sport. But the sumg taunts from people in Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver, and even Halifax for example, are ultimately rooted in the idea that where they're from is inherently superior to the "dirty", "crime-ridden", traffic-clogged (that one's true), "uptight" and all-around terrible place that is Toronto.

Ottawa on the other hand, hates Toronto because deep down in their hearts, they know that it's more interesting, richer, and more important; and that despite being the nation's captial, that their significance doesn't really extend much beyond providing large numbers of civil servants with a place to sleep at night.

Hudak has ZERO credibility with regards to transit policy, but I hope he keeps talking. His ridiculous pronouncements and creepy uncle demeanor are the only things keeping the Conservatives from power.

Does it matter if he bungles the transit file? Rob Ford campaigned on magical subways and "sharing cabs and learning who your neighbours are". No one called him out on how backwards this plan is and he won, handily. No one remembered Harris canceling the Eglinton subway, clearly.

Thanks to Mike Harris, the city has now been divided into two sides. One side wants a functioning city and transit where it makes sense, the other side doesn't want downtown/old city to get anything and doesn't want to pay for it. Short of de-amalgamation or an even more massive downtown condo boom, this city, like the province, will be driven by suburban policy.

Don't be stunned if Hudak wins and look for him to further dismantle the province, especially if Ford or a likeminded idiot gets elected in Toronto, which is a very, very, very distinct possibility.

This place is doomed. We're not getting new infrastructure, just more residents. No politician-- again, thanks to Harris-- will ever campaign on raising taxes and that's what's desperately needed to bring this city's infrastructure up to speed.

I'm not sure what planet Hudak is on. Please name a city where rail services are under one agency and buses under a totally separate one? The closest parallel could be San Francisco, where BART and Caltrain are separate from Muni, but even there Muni still runs its streetcars and LRT.

I have zero problem with merging GO, the suburban transit agencies and the TTC. This is normal on most of the continent (Chicago, New York, Philly, Boston, etc.) But you can't just cherry-pick it. That's bizarre, anti-urban, possibly racist and plain stupid.

Same old down tower whining about the burbs. Power is shifting to the burbs get used to it. Burbs voted harper and ford in and we will vote Hudak in. Hudak will fix the mess that the scandalous liberals put us in. We know how you guys down town like to waste out tax dollars.

Hudak wants to cherry-pick the most profitable parts of the TTC and have them be run under Metrolinx, while the city of Toronto is left to greatly subsidize the underfunded and unprofitable bus routes.

The thing is, Mark, I would happily do so if the rest of the city would realize that it costs money to have nice things. I vote for parties and representatives that recognize this. The suburbs don't and it's why these long-held "righty" wards are total shit holes.

All I hear is: "Other people should pay more so I can have the things I want. I don't want to pay for it myself though". No one is stopping you from donating more to the city. You won't follow through though. You'll just bitch and whine on the internet like the impotent fool you are.

Because the hordes of people cramming the 36 Finch or the 45 Kipling two times every day don't need new investment...right. Stop making it a burbs v. core thing, one city, one love. I agree with Ms. Stintz, either the province absorbs it all or doesn't, you can't pick and choose. Hudak is the worst.

And in the absence of the political leadership required to discuss realistic options for funding transit, how do you propose that those of us who are not pathologically tax-averse contribute? Just leave envelopes stuffed with cash outside of City Hall with "Attn: Transit" written on them?

Sure, bud. I'll get on that. I'll just leave some blank checks outside your boss' office because that's totally how he decides to do business anyway. Maybe if I leave enough, he'll name a fictional, will-never-be-built subway after me.

It's worse than that. The TTC has been underfunded for so long that it would drain GO/Metrolinx to modernize it (or at least bring it into the 1990's.

At some point we, the citizens of Toronto, will need to raise taxes to fund it it we want to continue to function as a city. The longer we wait, the more expensive it becomes, because things don't magically repair themselves if left alone.

I find it odd that you bitch about taxes, yet you spend you time trolling BlogTO. Doesn't Mr. Ford have some other work for you, like fixing the transit issue not just deflecting attention away from it with red herrings and strawmen?

so true! the guys who vote with the right get what they deserve. we pay tax and have a great place. this tight asses. refused to buy toilet paper so they walk with shitty asses. Oshawa is a conservative strong hold. do the math

Time to de-amalgamate. It's not working, especially when the first thing these puppets need to do is to learn how to do their jobs, at least some of it. Amalgamation is too big to handle for a disorganized place like Toronto. Amalgamation also allows the neighbouring 905 cities to keep on mooching off Metro Toronto (yes, I said Metro) and relying on it. They need to grow up too, and Toronto has to do their growing up and wising up as well. GO is regional and must be extended and fully running and has to be paid for by the ones who allowed so much sprawl, immigration and bad city planning in the first place. Same for those idiot culprits in Toronto who let the TTC subway system fall behind the times and protected certain groups.

I've lived in Etobicoke for just under 30 years and despite one of "our own" taking power in the last election, it was clearly a once in a generation thing (Lastman, anyone?).

Power is definitely shifting, but not so much from the suburbs to the city centre as it is from the old establishment to the new. And this young demographic, while highly urban, isn't necessarily urban.

The next election will be fascinating, even moreso than the provincial one. We've reached the tipping point where the youth demographic will permanently skew things towards centre /centre-left. And centre-right and right-leaning candidate will see an uphill battle to win wards. The same will happen with the province, but not for another 4-5 years (based on demographics).

So, much like what we saw happen in the US last November, the more conservative voices in this part of the world are no longer going to be able to count on their blocs to pull out wins. Through such a natural regression we could see 10-12 years of non-conservative candidates which, while you downtowners may whoop at the concept, is actually not good for on-the-ground democracy.

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